A Simple Way to be Kinder

Be kind to one another. Sounds great. But does it get the message across? We’d all like to be kinder to people, but hearing this old message can somehow sound unconvincing, even a bit trite.

A mother was upset to see her 7-year-old daughter sad about something so she asked her what was the problem. Seems she wasn’t getting on too well with her friends at school. She’d tried to play with a girl and she’d been told to go away. And that wasn’t the first time.

Mmm … if only there was something mum could do to help out. Actually, turned out there was. She remembered something she’d learned from her mother, and although it was simple, it was also very effective. So she got an empty coffee tin and asked the girl to write the names of all her classmates on bits of paper, and put them in the tin.

Her task then was to pick one out each morning at random, and then target that person (but hey, in a nice way!). Her task was to do something nice for that person. Just that one person. And just today. So it wasn’t asking much. And boy, did it pay off!

Be kind to just one person at a time

Because that young girl was focused on doing something nice for just that one particular person that day, she wasn’t focusing on the negative aspects of all her friends. Or the negative aspects of anything, as it turned out!

It not only helped, and in fact solved the young girl’s problem, it has been copied by countless others on the internet and has become a bit of a sensation.

Yeah, be kind to one another sounds good, but it’s asking a lot, in a way. Unless you’re naturally of a kind nature, it’s like asking someone who’s never been a runner to go out and do a marathon.

Focusing on just one person makes this so do-able!

If we all followed this simple method maybe we’d all gradually become kinder. And you don’t need a coffee tin to do it. Just focus on one particular person that you know (or a stranger, for that matter), and make it your business to do something nice for that person. Just that one person. And just today. Now that’s something that’s do-able, don’t you think?

Also, you can go about this stealthy kindness thing quite gently and without any fanfare or any wearing of flashy capes or anything like that.

This was inspired by something I read on Upworthy. If you’d like to read the original post, you can see it here.